With the opening of the Krishna P. Singh Center for
Nanotechnology, students and the general public are getting a rare glimpse into
research practices at the University of Pennsylvania. In designing and building
a facility with a very open layout and visible laboratory spaces, the team has
created a space that defies conventional thinking about research facilities.
Todd Hoehn, senior project manager at architect
Weiss/Manfredi, says that while laboratories are typically designed to be isolated
from view, the school wanted to pull back the curtain and let the public
experience the process. "The underlying concept is to take a typical
nanotech lab, turn it inside out and make it visible," he says.
Prominently located at the corner of 33rd and Walnut
Streets in Philadelphia, the 78,000-sq-ft, three-story facility includes
laboratory spaces for wet and dry experiments, clean-room facilities, large
mechanical spaces, administrative offices and public areas. The building
features a caisson and concrete foundation, steel structure, curtain wall,
metal panels and a green-roof enclosure. Work on the $92-million project was
begun in early 2011 and completed in December 2013.
Site-specific conditions were primary drivers for design
of the entire facility. Several laboratories contain microscopes and other
highly-sensitive equipment that had to be isolated from vibration and
electromagnetic interference. The site is located adjacent to a busy city
street and near a train line, where traffic could cause vibrations that
interfere with research.
The team located a portion of the site on solid bedrock
that was set back roughly 60 feet from the street. To further minimize
potential interference, laboratories outfitted with microscopes were built as
close as possible to the bedrock at 18 feet below ground level. A 3-ft-thick
concrete pad was added below this portion of the building as well. "We
looked for the sweet spot," Hoehn says. "There was really only one
ideal location for the most sensitive tools."
Groundwater was a significant issue at the site, further
complicating matters. Greg Stewart, vice president at Gilbane Building Co.,
says crews built a concrete "bathtub" to address concerns. Crews
placed stone 18- to 20-in.-deep inside the bathtub and added a drainage system.
Another slab was added above that layer, on top of which the rooms would be
constructed.
"It was a true belt-and-suspenders solution to the
problem," Stewart says.
The structure had to be designed and constructed around
an existing structure. The Edison Building, which housed much of the laboratory
equipment to be used in the new center, had to remain in place and operational
during construction.
Weiss/Manfredi's design wrapped much of the new building
around the existing one. Stewart says that crews had to work very carefully
around the Edison Building while it was in operation to avoid disturbing
ongoing research.
"We couldn't do any blasting," he says.
"When we hit rock, we used rock splitters. It was very careful work."
One of the most striking features of the new building is
a 68-foot long cantilever that hovers parallel to the street. Due to limited
available space on site, Stewart says the team was only able to use one crane
to install elements of the cantilever section. "Ideally, you want two
cranes for that job, but even then it would have been tricky," he says.
Once the center was complete and the laboratory equipment
could be transferred from the Edison Building to the new facility, the existing
structure was demolished. Designers then used the opportunity to create a green
space that would serve as a new gateway to the University of Pennsylvania
campus.
Under the Penn Connects development plan, the university
aims to improve connections between the university and its urban environment.
"In addition to having a programmatic purpose, this
project also had an urban-design importance that was to a higher level than
some other projects," said Anne Papageorge, vice president of the Penn
Facilities and Real Estate Services Division. "All of our buildings have
high design standards, but because of its location this was a gateway
project."
The design opened a clear line of sight from the surrounding
neighborhood to the new building and its interior, including some laboratories.
This challenged the team to create facades and interior glass enclosures that
are transparent but also keep harmful ultraviolet rays out of research spaces.
A unitized cutainwall system was chosen that features frits as well as a low-e
coating to cut down on heat gain. Amber-colored glass was also incorporated to
reduce UV exposure.
Conceived as a state-of-the-art research facility, the
center features numerous high-precision facilities. In addition to a 10,000
sq-ft underground facility designed for temperature stability and isolation
from vibrational, acoustic and electromagnetic noise, the center features a
10,000-sq-ft clean-room facility for microfabrication and nanofabrication.
Clean-room protocols had to be followed while
constructing this portion of the building, say project participants. As the
clean room was built, the space had to be positively pressured and then cleaned
after each phase of work so the area was free of construction dust and other
pollutants. The clean room had to remain unaffected by construction dust while
the building around it was still being completed. Crews wore jumpsuits, booties
and gloves when entering and working in the clean-room space.
All of the process equipment that runs the clean room had
to be specifically customized, particularly the mechanical equipment that had
to precisely address air exchange, filtration and pressurization.
Source: ENR
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